


Emily's Evolution

by TheSassyWombat



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Beast Island, Dual Consciousness, Etheria - Freeform, Etherian Magic, F/F, First Kiss, First Ones Tech, Kissing, Magic, Post-Canon, Robot girlfriend, Romance, SCIENCE!, Transformation, friends - Freeform, space travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:34:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24564688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSassyWombat/pseuds/TheSassyWombat
Summary: Scorpia, Entrapta, Emily, and Light Hope set out to find a way to contact the Best Friend Squad in space.  Science happens with unexpected results, which might just lead to... romance.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Emily & Entrapta (She-Ra), Scorpia & Entrapta (She-Ra), Scorpia/Emily (She-Ra)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	Emily's Evolution

“Wow! Has anyone noticed just how creepy this island is?” Scorpia exclaimed as they waded farther into Beast Island.

“Isn’t it fascinating?!” Entrapta said. “I had thought all the corruption would be gone after She-Ra did her whole save the world with magic thing. But the Pookas are still EXTREMELY aggressive, and I keep hearing that signal again.” She danced happily, hanging from her hair as she skittered up a tree. “I love it here!”

Emily beeped encouragingly at her best friend, but scooted close next to Scorpia. Somewhere in the woods, a snake monster screamed. Scorpia patted Emily’s dome comfortingly.

“I recommend that we stay focused on the mission to support She-Ra,” Light Hope’s tinny voice sounded from Emily’s speakers. “Protecting She-Ra is of utmost importance, and I have detected that this location has the strongest concentration of Etherian magic and First Ones’ Tech in the same place. My calculations indicate that it would be the best method of establishing contact with their arbolial spaceship.”

Scorpia shuddered, “You know, I just can’t get passed hearing Light Hope’s voice from Emily’s body! No offense, Light Hope, but you just don’t have my buddy’s lighthearted personality.” She paused struck by her statement. “Which I guess is kinda ironic when you think about it.”

“Yes!” Entrapta agreed, swooping down from the tree to give Emily a hug. “But having Light Hope here will be extremely valuable when it comes to integrating the First Ones’ technology. Emily is always up for an adventure! Aren’t you, girl?”

Emily whistled cheerfully, and then pulled her legs up in tight and rolled swiftly through the trees. Laughing, Entrapta and Scorpia raced after her.

…

Within an hour, they had wormed their way into an extra-ruined, First Ones’ ruin. Scorpia sat on Emily’s dome while Light Hope and Entrapta had increasingly complex technical conversations. Occasionally, Scorpia would reach down and pat Emily fondly.

“Well, I think that these specs for integrating First Ones’ Tech and Etherian magic might just work!” Entrapta said excitedly. “It could boost the signal from Mara’s ship and help it connect to Adora as she travels even farther!”

“Or it could explode,” Light Hope stated with her flat affect.

“Or it could explode!” Entrapta agreed, with a wide smile.

“Explode!” Scorpia exclaimed, as Emily gave a concerned beep. “That sounds like NOT super fun.”

“I propose we utilize localized tests before attempting to connect directly to She-Ra,” Light Hope said.

“Oh, testing! I LOVE SCIENCE!” Entrapta spun in several circles before stopping abruptly and dropping down criss-cross-apple-sauce facing her friends. She cocked her head to the side and rested her chin on her hand. “But what equivalent technology do we have at our disposal? The tech here is all still corrupted. And we probably shouldn’t leave them out there floating through the endless void of space while we run back to Bright Moon. But then again, they get to be floating through the endless void of space! What could be more fun?!”

“My primary mission is to assist She-Ra,” Light Hope stated. “I believe that we should run a test scenario to attempt to integrate my protocol with the natural magic of Beast Island and then analyze the results.”

“That’s AMAZING!” Entrapta shouted, clutching her tablet to her chest and shooting back up onto her hair.

“Yeah!” Scorpia agreed. She leaned over next to Emily. “Right? Is that good, Emily? Does that mean no explosions or explosions directly in our faces?”

Emily beeped.

“Right, of course, we need to trust our friends,” Scorpia agreed. “It will be amazing!”

…

Emily and, through her, Light Hope, were plugged into what remained of the interface of the ruined Crystal Castle. That connection had gone very smoothly, since Light Hope was already integrated into that software.

Now Scorpia stood nervously next to a thick root that had wound its way underground and through the large room. In one claw, she held a cable that ran back into Emily.

“Oh boy, are we sure I should be the one to do this?” she asked nervously, glancing between the cable and Emily. “I- I- I’m not sure I should be the one to do this.”

“Of course you should!” Entrapta exclaimed. “You are the only one who can do this. We need some Princess Power to jumpstart the integration. And you are the only one of us connected to a Runestone. Plus, Emily trusts you! You’re her friend!”  
Emily moved a little closer to Scorpia and whistled encouragingly.

“Aw, you’re my friend too!” Scorpia said, grinning broadly. “Okay, here I go!” Red lightning cracked across her body and down her arm. She slammed the cable into a small cut in the root at the same time as lightning sparked from her claw. Simultaneously, Entrapta pushed a button on her tablet.

Emily trilled as rainbow light shot back down the cable into her body. Shining white light from the console traced the corresponding cable into the robot body. Both kinds of light converged and mingled, growing brighter and brighter. Emily began to shake violently.

“Unexpect… expect… expected re… re… result… detected,” Light Hope’s voice said, moments before the earth shook and the light flared too bright to see anything.

After several seconds, the light faded and everything fell very still. Scorpia slowly pushed herself up from where she had huddled, covering Entrapta with her body. The two young women turned around and stared.

Where Emily had been before, a totally new creature knelt on the floor, one hand supporting her, the other covering her heart. Slowly, the woman pushed herself to standing. Even in a world of Princesses and magic, there was nothing quite like her.

Half of her body appeared to be made out of living, dark brown wood. Thin green vines hung down from one side of her head like hair. Small rainbow flowers bloomed down the outside of her arm and leg in twisting paths. She appeared to be wearing a dress of moss.

The other half of her body was sculpted from silver metal. Her skin reflected light brightly, even underground. Her hair was thin blue and red wires. Her arms and legs were sculpted, strong, like the exoskeleton Entrapta had created for Hordak. Her clothing on that side was finely crafted white mesh, woven tightly together.

Integrated across both sides of her body, straight lines joined with circles, patterns common to First Ones’ tech, were etched into her skin. Very, very slowly, she pushed herself to standing. Once upright, it was easy to see that she was very slim and shapely. She had strong shoulders, filtered into a tiny waist, and then flared out again into smooth hips. Her dress, or maybe it was part of her body, clung to her curves and her flat stomach.

Her last movement was to raise her head and open her eyes. Both Scorpia and Entrapta stood frozen, mouths hanging open. She had Light Hope’s face, but her eyes glowed gently red, with brighter red pupils.

Those red pupils looked back and forth at the two princesses. “Wh… wh… what… ha… ha… pen… ed?” she asked disjointedly. As her words stumbled, her voice echoed itself with Light Hope’s cool, flat tones and a bright, animated young woman’s voice. She took a step forward and stumbled.

Instantly, Scorpia and Entrapta rushed over to her. They each went to either side, and helped prop her up, supporting her weight.

“WOW!” Entrapta said, bringing her recording device over to her mouth with one ponytail. “The integration had totally unexpected results! None of my projections predicted anything like this!”

“Oh, don’t worry, you’re ok!” Scorpia said at the same time. “We got you!”

Entrapta’s other ponytail reached up and ran itself down the new woman’s metal arm. She jumped.

“Entrapta!” Scorpia chided. “Remember what Mermista said about personal space?”

“Oh, right, right, sorry! I have just never seen anyone like you before. You are AMAZING!!”

“Where… where is my third leg?” the woman said, frowning.

“Oh, sorry!” Scorpia said looking around. “I don’t know, but I’m sure I can find it for you.”

“We appear to have integrated into a new body,” the woman said again, this time in Light Hope’s voice. “I believe we are bipedal.”

“Nope, nope, nope,” the woman said again in the new voice. “I don’t like this. I’m rolling out of here!” She abruptly pulled her knees up into her body and fell to the floor, bringing a surprised Scorpia and Entrapta with her.

“Ow!” “Ow!” the two voices said, layered almost on top of each other, but not quite, so they appeared to echo.

“The integration was more literal than I could have ever imagined!” Entrapta said happily, her ponytails waving through the air. “It created a whole new body that is part First Ones’ tech, part Etherian, and part Emily!”

“Emily?” Scorpia said wonderingly. “Is that you?”

“It appears to be both of us,” Light Hope answered. They raised their hands and rubbed them slowly together. “I had not anticipated physical sensation would be a result of our experiment.” Hesitantly, the metal hand touched the edge of one of their rainbow flowers.

“Scorpia, Entrapta,” Emily said wonderingly. Suddenly, she reached out and pulled both women into a big hug. “Hugging you feels even better now!”

The princesses began to laugh and hug her back, but then the woman pulled their arms back in abruptly.

“Hugging is not part of my protocol. We must stay focused on our mission to help She-Ra. Entrapta, begin the testing.”

“Uh, Light-Emily? Emily-Hope?” Scorpia began, her claws pressed against her cheeks. “Oh boy, what do I call you?”

“Emily,” “Light Hope,” they said in that weird echo way of theirs.

“Oh boy, I can’t wait to run these tests!” Entrapta exclaimed, shooting up to stand on her hair.

“But, ummm, you, she, they,” Scorpia went on stutteringly, “maybe we should let them catch their breath.”

“We breathe!” “We do appear to have breath,” they said to themselves. Instantly, they began to hyperventilate. “Don’t worry, I got this,” “Your emotions are interfering with our respiratory system.”

“Okay, okay, okay,” Scorpia muttered, gingerly rubbing their back.

“Fascinating!” Entrapta danced around them, already taking measurements. “Uh oh,” she stopped abruptly.

“Uh oh! Uh oh!” Scorpia said wildly, “Did you just realize that we managed to turn our friend into a lady who talks to herself?! Oh no, I did this! I probably used too much lightning! I was nervous, and I messed it up!”

“It’s ok!” Emily said, flinging their arms around her friend.

They quickly pulled back. “Physical contact is disconcerting,” Light Hope said.

“Emily loves hugs!” Scorpia cried, looking more desperate than ever.

“Guys,” Entrapta interjected, “it looks like these readings aren’t stable. Whatever is happening to Emily-Hope isn’t over!”

“What?!” Emily and Scorpia said at the same time. They moved in close to each other, but Light Hope pulled them back.

Suddenly, there was another tremor. “It appears our localized seismic activity was destabilizing to the area,” Entrapta noted into her recorder.

“I propose we return to the ship,” Light Hope said. “We can run additional diagnostics as we return to Bright Moon.”

Scorpia held onto Emily-Hope as they stumbled their way out of the cave, Entrapta leading the way. “I have never had only two legs before,” Emily murmured, needing to concentrate on her steps.

“And you are doing just so, so great!” Scorpia exclaimed.

They rushed through the forest and back towards the beach. They were fortunate that the local wildlife appeared to have been disturbed by the quake and were giving them a wide berth. Quickly, they began to climb onto the ship when Emily-Hope grabbed her head and fell down with a scream.

“Emily!” Scorpia cried.

The pattern on their skin began flickering with the two lights, white and rainbow, on either side of their body. Their body seemed to ripple. “Take us back!” “Take us back!” they echoed in a scream.

Scorpia hastily pulled them back onto Beast Island. Instantly, they quieted, their body relaxing, their breath coming in short gasps.

“How unexpected! It appears the instability becomes greater if removed from the island,” Entrapta explained. “If we try to leave, they could become completely destabilized! Oh,” she said slowly, lowering her tablet and looking up with concern. “They could become completely destabilized.”

“That doesn’t sound good!” Scorpia said, holding Emily-Hope up gently. She used one claw to push their vines out of their face.

“It appears that we will need to stay and stabilize the integration before we can attempt to use this to contact She-Ra,” Light Hope said, pulling away.

“Stay here!?” Scorpia said looking around fearfully. “I mean, camping trip! It will be fun!” she rushed to reassure.

Emily-Hope smiled and touched her shoulder gratefully, before pulling away.

“This will give us more time to monitor the interaction with Emily-Hope and the island!” Entrapta exclaimed. “I love Beast Island!”

…

They sat around a bonfire on the beach. Scorpia had a hope that the fire would keep the wildlife away. Entrapta was waiting to record if they were attracted to it. Scorpia had bustled around setting up camp, while Entrapta had run a lengthy series of tests on Emily-Hope.

“Dinner’s ready!” Scorpia said cheerfully. “Well, it’s old Horde food bars, but I put them on plates!”

“Food bars?” Entrapta said with a frown.

“I cut yours into tiny pieces,” Scorpia reassured her.

“Yes!”

“Emily-Hope, here you go. I hope you like it.” Scorpia handed them a plate.

“Interesting, it appears that there is a correlation between this substance and a physical reaction in our lower torso and salivary glands,” Light Hope remarked.

“I’m hungry,” Emily breathed, red eyes brightening. “I’ve never been hungry before!”

“Well, it happens to the best of us,” Scorpia said, smiling.

Slowly, Emily-Hope took a small bite of the food bar. Their eyes widened as they chewed and swallowed. “Amazing!” “How unsettling.”

“Huh, well,” Scorpia rubbed the back of her head, “I’m glad that you like it, maybe, I guess.”

“Thank you, Scorpia,” Emily said, smiling widely. Her face flicked back to neutral and then a smile again in rapid succession.

“It appears that the subject continues to have physical control alternate between each consciousness inside, which is different than in its previous body, where Emily controlled all physical movement,” Entrapta said into her recorder. “It will be fascinating to determine how the two conciousnesses are housed in one brain. Does it have a brain? What are its internal organs like?”

“Entrapta,” Scorpia murmured, leaning over towards her friend. “Remember they are our friends. Friends don’t like being called subjects.”

“The terminology used to describe my programming is irrelevant,” Light Hope said.

“Yes, I just want to assist Entrapta,” Emily agreed. Then they frowned. “Wait, actually, I think, I think, I think I do like being called Emily better.”

“See!” hissed Scorpia.

“I don’t think I have ever had feelings like this before!” Emily said, looking torn between excitement and concern.

“It’s alright, friend,” Scorpia exclaimed, leaning over to put a claw on their knee. “Whatever you feel is completely valid.”

Their face fell still, and they pulled their knee away. “On the contrary,” Light Hope said. “Feelings are not part of programming. My mission is to support She-Ra. I desire whatever is in her best interest. Names are irrelevant to supporting her.”

They frowned and rubbed their forehead. “Sharing a body isn’t as easy as I thought it would be,” Emily said.

“I want to be a good friend, Emily-Hope,” Entrapta said sincerely. “I think science might be the best way to help you, though. It’s how I can figure out why you are unstable.”

“I don’t know,” Scorpia said hesitantly. “I think that maybe it’s because they don’t totally, I mean, just the littlest bit, but it seems like maybe, they don’t get along.”

“Genius!” Entrapta yelled, swinging by her hair. “Their programs are clashing!”

“To the contrary,” Light Hope replied, “we are both programmed to assist, and Entrapta is an expert in integrating Etherian and First Ones’ technology. There should not be a conflict in our programming because we share the same objective.”

“Well,” Scorpia continued hesitantly, “it’s just that, Emily has friends and likes hugs. And it seems like you… don’t.”

“Hugs and friendships are irrelevant to assisting She-Ra. As are hunger and feelings,” Light Hope responded.

“No,” Emily said right away. “Hugs are helping our friends. And friendship makes me, Entrapta, and Scorpia happy. They are important.”

“Inaccurate deduction,” Light Hope replied. Her voice remained distant, but something like frustration was beginning to flicker there as well.

“Emily’s right,” Entrapta said earnestly. “Emily was one of my very first friends. We just clicked right away. That’s not something that happens with all robots.”

“It’s okay guys,” Scorpia interjected. “I’m sure we can talk this out. Light Hope is our friend too. It’s why she came on this mission with us.”

“Inaccurate again. I came to assist She-Ra.”

“Mara!” Emily exclaimed. “Mara was your friend!”

“Inaccurate!” Their body tensed and they gripped their plate tightly, dinner apparently forgotten.

“No, I can remember,” Emily said slowly, with some wonder. “She was your friend. You wanted to take care of her; you missed her when she was gone.”

“How are you accessing my data banks? It is inappropriate!”

“It might be a sign that you are further integrating! It could maybe lead to stabilization!” Entrapta bounced up and down with excitement. “Quick! Keep sharing with each other. Light Hope, can you remember any of Emily’s memories?”

“No! I will not access this robot's data banks! This—this is not relevant to helping She-Ra.”

“Well, I don’t want you in my data banks anyway!” Emily cried out.

“Oh boy, oh boy,” Scorpia muttered. “They’re fighting with themselves again.”

Suddenly, Emily-Hope grabbed their head and stumbled. The two different color lights flashed from their skin.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Scorpia said, rushing over. She put her arms around them and held them closely. “Don’t worry! I got you!”

They relaxed against Scorpia for several long moments. Then they pulled away abruptly. “Physical contact is not required.”

“Ugh!” Emily exclaimed and dropped their face into their hands. “I—I think we’re tired. We’ll just go lay down.”

“Oh, oh, right.” Scorpia hovered, unsure whether to pat their back or not. “Well, here, I have a sleeping roll for you. And sweet dreams!”

“Thanks, Scorpia,” Emily said softly. “I think you are a really good friend.” Scorpia turned pink with pleasure, but Emily-Hope tucked themselves in, moving slowly and jerkily.

…

“AAAAAH!” A scream woke them the next morning. Scorpia used her claws to slash her way out of her sleeping roll as a pooka jumped towards her face, sharp teeth snapping.

“Sorry, sorry!” Entrapta said, scrambling to her feet. “I was supposed to be on watch, but these readings were really interesting.”

“That’s okay,” Scorpia said, grabbing the pooka with her claw and throwing it away. She quickly rushed over to place herself between the pack and her friends. “It was time for me to get up anyway.”

Emily-Hope also climbed to their feet and looked around them. A dozen pookas were slinking out from the trees onto the beach. Scorpia raised her claws and sent lightning out to scare them away. They scattered, but didn’t go far.

“The wildlife here is so fascinating!” Entrapta exclaimed. “It behaves so differently than the rest of the planet.”

A pooka broke away from the group and lunged towards Entrapta, who was completely unaware.

“Entrapta, look out!” Emily yelled. They jumped in front of Entrapta and stuck out their hands. Nothing happened.

“Emily!” Scorpia shouted, and turned quickly enough to blast the pooka away. However, it left her back exposed and another pooka launched itself into her, knocking her onto her stomach in the sand.

“Scorpia!” Emily screamed.

Suddenly, a pink and grey quadruped robot sprang from the forest. It charged the pookas with a huge roar. It used its huge front legs to swat them away from the ladies.

“That’s my girl!” Entrapta cheered.

Within minutes, the pookas scattered back into the woods and the robot wandered over to get a hug from Entrapta.

“Guys,” Entrapta said, “this is my friend! She kept me alive the last time I was on Beast Island. We had so much fun together!”

“Nice to meet you,” Scorpia said as she moved over to Emily-Hope. “Emily? What happened over there?”

“I wanted to protect her,” Emily said brokenly. “I guess I don’t have lasers anymore, though. So I couldn’t do anything.” They hung their head.

“Physical protection is not in my protocol. I am to guide and train,” Light Hope said primly.

“Oh, don’t feel bad!” Scorpia exclaimed. “You are brand new in this body. I couldn’t shoot lightning for years and years and years!”

“But Emily could use lasers yesterday. It was part of her protocol,” Light Hope responded. “It is indeed distressing to find this new body does not support her programming.”

“I didn’t want to help Entrapta because of my programming,” Emily insisted. Tears made of a light sap in one eye and a clear oil in the other leaked slowly. “I want to protect her because she’s my friend!”

They sighed. “I certainly did not remember you being so resistant regarding who you are before yesterday,” Light Hope said. “You are a robot. You are your programming.”

“Emily’s more than that,” Scorpia insisted.

“The interaction between sentience and programming is absolutely fascinating in AI,” Entrapta said, swinging over on her hair. “The issue is so complex.”

“Thanks, guys,” Emily said sadly. “I think I just need some time by myself. Well, sort of.” They slowly walked away down the beach and sat down, staring unseeingly over the ocean.

\---

After about half an hour, they heard Scorpia walk up next to them. “Hey, is this stretch of completely empty beach taken?” she asked hesitantly.

“No,” “No,” they echoed.

Scorpia gingerly lowered her large body down next to them. “I’m sorry things have been so rough recently,” she said, “but we’ll figure it out together. I mean, I don’t know what it’s like to share your body with someone, but I do remember a little bit from when Horde Prime had me chipped. It, well, it wasn’t very nice. But it’s different with you two. You have a lot more in common than I did with Horde Prime. I bet we can work out this integration thing if you’d like us to.”

Emily-Hope turned towards Scorpia. “We had forgotten about your experience with the chip. Our apologies,” Light Hope said.

“Yeah, we’re really sorry.” Emily reached out and took Scorpia’s claw gently. Then they let go after a moment without jerking away.

“Oh, you guys, you're already getting along better! I know that you have different, like really different, like really, really, really different personalities, but you also have stuff you share too.”

“Provide evidence,” Light Hope stated.

“You both care about someone. You care about them a lot. Probably more than you even care about yourself, which has some concerning implications when I think about it, but never mind that. She-Ra. Entrapta. You want to take care of them. I know it's hard to be in a body that doesn’t fit in. Look at me! You can never miss me in a crowd, what with being super tall, and the claws and all. But my body lets me do a great job at protecting people, and I can help you use your body to protect people too.” Scorpia looked at them hopefully.

“I like your body,” Emily said gently. “How do you think I can keep people safe without a laser?”

“I suppose that it would be best to be familiar with any benefits a body may have, as long as I have to have one,” Light Hope agreed. “What is your plan?”

Scorpia beamed, “It’s time for a TRAINING MONTAGE!”

They blinked up at her. “Great… Scorpia,” Emily said, with a small smile.

“Inaccurate, training consists of several highly organized units to enhance the subjects strengths in identified areas,” Light Hope reported.

“Oh, oh, right,” Scorpia said bashfully, rubbing the back of her neck. “Well, I guess we should start at the beginning then.”

…

Half an hour later, after kicking, punching, elbowing, and stomping, Emily-Hope sat on the ground with a scowl on their face. It had not gone well. They still were uncoordinated with their body and had very different instincts. Where Emily wanted to rush into a fight, Light Hope wanted to hang back and analyze. Emily was enthusiastic about the combat exercises, but kept getting off balance expecting a third leg, to roll, and to shoot lasers. Light Hope was reluctantly interested, but her first instinct was to shy away from physical contact, which she had never experienced in any way before. This resulted in jerky movements and frequently falling down.

“We are inefficient,” Light Hope said despondently.

“I’m never going to get this right,” Emily sighed in agreement. “Maybe Light Hope is right. It was better before any of this happened.”

“No, guys, come on, it will be okay,” Scorpia said, sinking down next to them. “It’s totally normal for this to take a while. You haven’t even been this person, ah people-son, for a whole day yet. When I was training with the Horde, I was so awkward too! I was too big and strong, and would sting people without meaning to. But it got better. Slowly, I got more used to my body and how it would interact with other people. You will too. Just give it some time.”

“Time is not an available resource,” Light Hope said. “We have been out of contact with She-Ra for three days now, and we don’t know their status.”

“She has a point,” Emily agreed. “I did all of this so I could help my friends, but what if I’m just messing it up?” They leaned over, and Scorpia gave them a big hug.

“Physical contact is disconcerting,” Light Hope said immediately.

“She’s impossible!” Emily burst out. “I’ve never worked with anyone so negative!”

“Okay, okay, let’s try something different!” Scorpia said hastily. “You guys keep talking about how important it is to integrate. Well, I think that, maybe, you guys getting along a little better is important. Why don’t we start by being nice to yourself? I want Emily and Light Hope to each say three nice things about themselves.”

Their shoulders slumped. “Okay, Scorpia, if you think it will help. I trust you,” Emily said after a pause. “I, I like that I always try my best to help my friends. I like that I can make my friends laugh. I like that, umm, I like that I can give hugs.”

“Great, Emily! I’m so proud of you!” Scorpia beamed at them.

“The objective of this exercise is unclear,” Light Hope responded.

“Please, Light Hope, it certainly won’t hurt anything,” Scorpia pleaded.

“Affirmative, risk level is low.” Light Hope had a lengthy, lengthy pause. “I assist She-Ra… I have access to a large database of relevant knowledge… I, ah, I happened to notice that my physical shape matches several criteria for bipedal, sentient attractiveness.”

“Wow! Such a great job,” Scorpia cheered.

“Really?” Emily asked. “What is attractiveness?”

“Oh! Um,” Scorpia blushed fiercely.

“Biological beings have a set of criteria that they use to measure the other beings’ physical shape. They use it to determine who they would like to mate with. Though there are large discrepancies of what is found attractive across species, and even among individual members of a species,” Light Hope explained easily. “It is important to acknowledge this influence on biological beings since it can drastically alter their responses to certain situations and reduce objective thinking.”

“Oh, oh!” Emily exclaimed, sitting up straight. “And we fit the criteria of a worthy mate?”

“Oh, boy!” Scorpia said, looking around the beach wildly.

“Affirmative, for several bipedal species. We have a physical ratio between the shoulders, waist, and hips of this shape that is considered pleasing. We also have very symmetrical facial features. Evidence of muscle strength would suggest that we would be able to more easily care for and protect young.”

They turned to Scorpia. “Is this an accurate summary?” Light Hope asked.

“Yup, yup, yup,” Scorpia said, turning very bright red and avoiding their gaze. “Definitely, accurate!”

They frowned suddenly. “If symmetrical features are important…” Emily trailed off looking down at their body. “Our body is not symmetrical. It’s lack of integration must be extremely jarring to these standards you outlined.”

“Affirmative,” Light Hope said.

At the same time, Scorpia cried out, “No! You're so original! I’ve never seen anyone like you before. I… ah… I like looking at you.” She trailed off into a mumble.

They sat up sharply and looked at Scorpia with surprise.

“Yes!” Entrapta exclaimed, dropping down from a nearby tree using her hair.

“AAH!” Scorpia yelled, jumping.

“Imperfection is beautiful!” Entrapta continued. “You are an amazing scientific advancement, Emily-Hope! I can’t wait to study you more! Actually, I have been analysing the data we’ve collected. Instabilities continue to persist, but I think that I have developed a patch. However, we would need to run it back at the First Ones’ ruin. I think if we can get the patching completed, that we will be able to leave the island and run further testing back at my lab!”

“Okay then!” “Let’s begin,” they echoed.

Together, the women climbed into the mouth of the quadrupedal robot and set off into the forest moving rapidly.

“You know, I think I am going to name her June!” Entrapta yelled.

…

Once again, they found themselves back in the ruined crystal chamber. More chunks of crystal had fallen after the last quake. They were crowded closer together because there was less open space. Scorpia looked around nervously, while Entrapta bounced in excitement, and Emily-Hope’s face flickered disjointedly through emotions.

“Okay, we need to do things a little differently this time,” Entrapta explained. “Emily-Hope, you need to be connected to each of the elements, the root, the crystal chamber, my tablet, and Scorpia.”

“Me again?!” Scorpia squeaked, ringing her claws.

“Yes!” Entrapta enthused. “Oh, I can’t wait to see the results!”

“It’s okay,” Emily said encouragingly to Scorpia. They settled on the floor, with one hand resting on the side of the crystal interface. The other hand wrapped around a root.

“Okay, I’m going to put my tablet on your lap,” Entrapta said. “Scorpia, hold onto her arm with one claw. With the other claw, use just a teeny little bit of lightning and press this update software button.”

“Lightning!” Scorpia said. “I really, really don’t like this.”

“The patch appears to be a sound method for moving forward. You may proceed,” Light Hope said.

“It’s okay, Scorpia,” Emily said with a small smile. “Believe in yourself. We do.”

Scorpia reluctantly held onto Emily-Hope’s arm and reached for the tablet. Then she gingerly tapped the update button with a small, bright spark of red lightning.

Emily-Hope lit up again, the two lights swirling together and increasing until they were absolutely blinding. When the light dimmed, Emily-Hope had fallen forward into Scorpia’s arms.

“Emily, are you ok?!” Scorpia cried. “Oh, and you too, Light Hope.”

Emily-Hope straightened, and Scorpia sucked in a breath. They had changed again. Instead of having two sides of different material, they had now begun to blend together. The wood had lightened to a pale brown and alternated with the metal in diagonal lines across the body. The stripes were anywhere from four to six inches across, moving downward from the right to left side of the body. They appeared to wrap down and around the limbs. The vines and wires for hair had a similar pattern, allowing them to swing and mix with each other. Their dress had mingled as well. Instead of stripes, though, it was a single piece of wire mesh with moss growing between and through it.

“Integration!” Entrapta exclaimed. “Wow, more physical changes! How unexpected! The combination of these elements is making something completely new, never seen or studied before!”

“You look great,” Scorpia said softly, helping Emily-Hope to their feet.

“We feel… better… we think,” they said. Their voices weren’t echoing anymore. Instead they were blending together to create a new voice.

“Oh!” Scorpia said surprised. “Emily, is that you?”

“We’re here,” Emily-Hope responded. Their face remained impassive, but their hands squeezed Scorpia’s arms reassuringly. They turned towards Entrapta. “Run your tests. I believe we have stabilized enough to leave the island. However, it would be prudent to run testing before we go… home.”

…

Emily-Hope stood in front of the main communication panel in Bright Moon. Behind them, King Micah, Mermista, and Scorpia talked excitedly.

“Okay, everyone!” Entrapta exclaimed, patting Emily-Hope on the shoulder with a ponytail. “My readings for the past 24 hours have shown Emily-Hope to be stabilized. It’s time to initiate contact with Adora’s ship!”

“Are we sure this is safe for them?” Scorpia asked.

Emily-Hope smiled back over their shoulder. “Don’t worry, Scorpia. We agree with Entrapta’s calculations.”

“In that case, let’s check in on my baby girl,” King Micah said, “and her very... nice… boy… friend, so very far away from home.” He winced.

Emily-Hope took a deep breath, and lay their hands on the panel. The patterns in their skin began to glow softly in stripes of rainbow and white light. They closed their eyes to concentrate, but Entrapta could still see red light shining through their lids. They cast their mind out through the communication panel and into space.

At first, they began scanning for familiar communication signals in the region where the ship had last been. But space was just so big. Even with their brain running huge datasets and calculations at the same time, there were just too many spaceships and too much distance. It wasn’t working. They clenched their jaw before relaxing.

Instead of trying to find a specific signal, they relaxed and let their mind spread out gently through the space. They looked for a feeling of home. They looked for something that felt like them. Their eyes flew open, and an image flickered to life above the control panel.

The others rushed up close to the circular display and exclaimed with relief. Bow came into view steering the leafy green spaceship. His eyes widened and he called for Adora, Glimmer, and Catra. They rushed over and had a happy reunion with their family and friends back at home. After a short conversation, they had reassured everyone that they were safe and sound, just exploring a new planet with an interesting magical signal.

“Okay, guys, we better get going,” Adora said with a wave. “It’s about time for us to head down there.”

Everyone in the control room said a relieved goodbye and the connection turned dormant. Laughing and joking with each other, the group started to make their way from the room.

Scorpia paused, “Ah, Emily-Hope, are you coming?”

“We… we should stay here in case there is any difficulty with them resuming contact if needed,” they said shakily. Then they shook their head and tensed their hands on the panel.

“Ugh, that sounds soooo boring,” Mermista said from the doorway.

“Yeah, it will be okay,” Scorpia said encouragingly.

“We haven’t severed contact,” Entrapta said, swinging back over. “It’s just dormant for now. They can signal us that they would like contact and you can open a channel anytime.”

“But we should be close by in case She-Ra is in need of guidance,” they said. Again they shook their head. “No, no, we should go with our frie... friends.” “Inaccurate.” For the first time since the integration, the distinct voices of Emily and Light Hope began to bleed through again. Abruptly, they turned and walked to the wall. They sank down the wall slowly, and pulled their knees up to their chest. “We have a primary objective.” “We’ve met the primary objective.” “We must assist.” “We can assist all our friends.” They shook their head irritably again.

“Wow, that is definitely something,” Mermista said, leaning against the doorway.

“Are they alright?” King Micah asked, frowning.

“Uh oh,” Entrapta said, looking down at her tablet. “They’re becoming unstable again.”

“Ah, guys, can you give us a minute?” Scorpia asked, walking over to Emily-Hope and sitting down across from her.

“Of course,” King Micah said, and ushered the women out of the room.

“Hi guys,” Scorpia said gently, being careful not to touch them. “It’s good to hear your voices again, but not so good to see you aren’t feeling very well.”

Emily-Hope closed their eyes briefly. “We are fine. We just want to assist.”

“Well, of course, you do,” Scorpia said. “You are really good friends. However, it seems like that patch didn’t quite make you friends with each other.”

“We achieved integration,” they said, squaring their shoulders. “We will be able to stabilize again.”

“Okay, but can you do something for me? Even if it might seem silly?” Scorpia asked.

“Of course!” “Affirmative.” They cleared their throat. “We’d be happy to help you,” they said in one voice.

“Okay, can you say three things you respect about Emily and three things you respect about Light Hope?”

“Sure… I guess,” they said with a slight frown. “Light Hope was very smart, tried her best to take care of She-Ra, and understood biological attraction.”

“Nice job, Emily,” Scorpia said brightly, “ah, I mean, Emily-Hope.”

“And Emily was an effective protector for Entrapta, she knew how to respond to physical input, and she was comfortable with physical contact.”

“Was?” Scorpia asked. “Are you guys still in there?”

“We have integrated,” Emily-Hope replied. “Integration is the best method to support our friends.”

Scorpia leaned back for a moment and seemed surprised. “Okay,” she said finally, “well, you both have things you respect about the other one. And a common theme is taking care of your friends. Light Hope, I promise that you can still take care of She-Ra and also have your own life. Actually, I know that Adora would really, really want you to take care of yourself.”

Emily-Hope paused. “That is congruent with Adora’s personality. Okay, we will attempt to join you for lunch.”

Scorpia grinned and helped them up. Emily-Hope didn’t move in for a hug, but accepted Scorpia’s claw to stand.

…

The three princesses and Emily-Hope were hanging out in Entrapta’s room in Bright Moon that night.

“And then Sea Hawk was, like, sea shanty, and I was like, rock ballad!” Mermista said to laughter from her friends. “And then Perfuma, was, like, we should do a spirit cleansing chant. And I pushed her off the boat.”

They all laughed again, except Scorpia. “Ah, Perfuma,” she said looking down, “yup, she loves to chant… and meditate, which is just so, so great. Yup, everything is totally cool with Perfuma. She told me all about that. It was so, so funny!”

The three other women turned to look at her.

“Yeah,” Mermista said, “that is like just super convincing.”

Entrapta swung over close to Scorpia. “Avoiding eye contact, incomplete sentences, overly enthusiastic. My previous observations would suggest that Scorpia is uncomfortable.”

“No really?” Mermista asked sarcastically.

“Are you ok?” Emily-Hope asked.

“Okay, okay, you caught me!” Scorpia cried, throwing her claws up dramatically. “We broke up! We broke up three months ago!”

“Oh, okay,” Mermista said disinterestedly.

“You did?” Emily-Hope asked, with Emily’s voice coming through more clearly.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Entrapta asked.

“Well, nobody asked exactly,” Scorpia said.

“What happened?” they asked.

“I don’t know really. I’m just really, really bad at morning meditation. I keep getting bored and stiff, and then my tail will knock over some really important meditation thing! And then she wasn’t really all that big on going out with Sea Hawk and Swift Wind for karaoke night. So, we just kinda decided that it would be better if we went back to hanging out like, you know, friends. Which we totally are! Super good friends and all. It’s just the slightest bit weird.”

“Yeah, exes can be weird,” Mermista agreed. “Not that I bothered to stay friends with any of mine. It’s like, whatever.”

“We understand that ‘breaking up’ is really sad,” Emily-Hope said, touching Scorpia’s arm for a very brief moment.

“Yeah, whenever people left me, I really, really hated it,” Entrapta agreed.

“You guys!” Scorpia cried, throwing her arms open. “You guys are just so great. Group hug!”

Entrapta jumped in. Mermista rolled her eyes, but leaned in too. Emily-Hope leaned in, then out, then in again. Scorpia reached out and crushed the three women to her.

“I am glad we were supportive,” Emily-Hope said. “That’s enough hug,” Light Hope said.

“It appears that they are destabilizing again,” Entrapta said, raising her recorder to her mouth. “Physical contact may be a trigger for the destabilization.”

“You are all such freaks,” Mermista said. “I love it.”

“Don’t worry, Emily-Hope,” Entrapta said, swinging over to run complicated algorithms across multiple monitors. “I am collecting a lot of data. In a few days, I’ll be able to come up with something that stabilizes you for good.”

“Thank you,” they replied with a blank face.

Scorpia frowned at them in concern.

…

The next day, Emily-Hope stood on a balcony looking out at the sunset over Bright Moon when Scorpia popped out next to them.

“Hi guys!” she said cheerfully. “Isn’t the view of that water, just so great up here. I was so astounded when I first saw it. There isn’t anything like it in the Fright Zone.”

They turned to face her. “You can see a lot from up here,” they agreed neutrally. “It seems like you might have something you want to say. Go ahead, we have found that you have surprising wisdom. We will listen to you.”

“Well, I just heard Entrapta say that she might have a final patch that will permanently integrate you ready by tomorrow. And I guess, I’m just wondering,” she rubbed the back of her neck and looked down, “do you want to be integrated?”

“We want to help our friends, both here and in space. An integrated form seems to be the best way to do that.”

“Yeah, but it seems like last time you started to turn into a whole different person, and you should have a say in that,” Scorpia looked up, her eyes shining intently. “It feels like you are getting farther away from Emily and Light Hope. Maybe you just want to be yourself.”

Emily-Hope turned back to the view, resting her elbows on the railing. “We admit there are some… drawbacks to integration. However, the benefits to our friends appear to outway them.”

“Oh, oh, okay then,” Scorpia mumbled. She screwed up her courage and went on. “Okay, so say that we are going ahead with the integration tomorrow. Let’s just take that for granted. With that taken for granted, could you just tell me some of the drawbacks?”

“Well, we suppose that it would not be of any harm,” they said slowly.

“The physical body has many unsettling features,” Light Hope continued. “It requires food, sleep, and an unmentionable process of voiding waste.”

Scorpia quickly turned her head away to hide her smile.

“And there appear to be feelings that are unrelated to our programming or primary mission. They could compromise our work,” Light Hope said.

“Actually, I really like having this body,” Emily said after a moment. “I like having a voice. I like eating and touching things. I like being able to hug back in return.” They turned sad eyes towards Scorpia. “However, we don’t really do any of those things.”

Scorpia reached a claw out, but let it fall when Emily-Hope didn’t respond. “You know, we did reestablish contact with the Best Friend Squad. We completed that mission. Entrapta has been really focused on integrating you guys. I bet she hasn’t even thought about any other solutions to the problem. I know that she would be able to come up with something if we just asked her!”

Emily-Hope started to turn towards her and then stopped, drooping slightly. “The risk is too great. We could lose connection with the ship. We could ruin Entrapta’s experiment.”

“Guys!” Scorpia did move now, taking their hands. “There are enough smart people here, you included, that we could definitely figure it out. And neither Adora nor Entrapta would want you to sacrifice yourself doing something that you don’t want to do. We’re your friends!”

Emily-Hope squeezed Scorpia’s claws for a split second before letting her go and stepping away. “There is too much risk…” they trailed off sadly.

“We don’t know that,” Scorpia argued. “But I do know that sacrificing each other never works out in the end. Light Hope, you worked so hard to take care of She-Ra, but when Adora finally trusted herself and her feelings, that’s how she was able to save the world. And, Emily, when have you ever seen Entrapta be upset about an experiment failing? She loves all the parts of science, the successes and the failures. And keeping you safe, she would never think of that as a failure. Both of them would hate for you to do this to yourself!”

Emily-Hope stared away blankly, eyes unseeing. “We, I, we, I…” they stuttered to a stop.

“You don’t have to decide anything right now,” Scorpia said. “Please, let’s just have a conversation with our friends about it. Together we can come up with something to take care of everybody!”

Emily-Hope was still, nonresponsive.

“Plus, Emily, you are one of my first and best friends. You taught me how to tell a good friend from a bad friend and to set limits to take care of myself. I… I would miss you so much,” she said, her voice cracking a little.

Emily-Hope turned surprised eyes to Scorpia. Slowly, they nodded. “Okay.” “Affirmative.”

…

It was a few days before they could get the Best Friend Squad back together for a conference call, and Mermista had left to head home. When Emily-Hope brought up the connection, the four friends were beaming, happy with the success of their most recent mission.

“Guys! You should have seen it!” Glimmer began excitedly.

“I’m sure it was great,” Entrapta cut in briskly, “but we have something to talk about. Emily-Hope?”

Emily-Hope stood there wordlessly, their eyes flicking between Adora and Entrapta.

“They don’t like being integrated!” Scorpia burst out suddenly. “It’s like losing them into a totally different person!” She realized everyone was staring at her and dropped her eyes back to the ground.

“Is that true, Light Hope?” Adora asked gently, her brow furrowed with concern.

“We are most efficient in this form,” Emily-Hope said quietly, looking at their hands on the console.

Adora’s brows raised. “That doesn’t sound like you are very happy.”

“Go on, Emily, Light Hope,” Scorpia said, leaning closer. “Tell them what you told me.”

“I… I do not enjoy the sensations of a physical body. They distract me from my objective and are unsettling,” Light Hope said, still looking down.

“I love having this body!” Emily said, looking up at Scorpia and Entrapta. “But we can’t play at all with Light Hope here. It makes her so unhappy. We used to have so much fun together,” she trailed off looking at her friends.

King Micah cleared his throat, “Can someone explain why this integration happened? Was it intentional?”

“It absolutely wasn’t!” Entrapta exclaimed, looking excited. “We were planning to connect Emily and Light Hope into the convergence of Etherian magic and First Ones’ tech. We thought that they would have the best chance at boosting the signal out to those guys. But physical transformation was a COMPLETELY UNINTENDED SIDE EFFECT!” She clasped her hands together and appeared dreamy.

“Ah,” King Micah said, used to Entrapta by this point. “But we have a connection now. Can we reverse the process and return them to normal?”

“I don’t think they want to be normal,” Scorpia said. “Do you?”

They sighed. “I would prefer to go back to my normal body rather than staying like this,” Emily said quietly, “but if there was some way I could try this body out first, that would be wonderful.”

“My previous form is unable to be of use to She-Ra now that she has left the planet,” Light Hope said firmly. “I would prefer to proceed with the integration and be closer to fulfilling my purpose.”

“Light Hope,” Adora said gently. “I’m okay now. Thank you for wanting to help me, but you don’t have to do this. You can stay on your planet and make new friends. I’ll be back home pretty soon.”

“I don’t think that we can restore them to their previous forms,” Entrapta said, typing away at her tablet furiously. “We can maybe separate their identities, but I don’t think we could remove all the First Ones’ tech or the magic. It is just too mixed up at this point. Whatever we do next will have to be something completely new! How exciting!”

“As long as I can continue to serve my purpose,” Light Hope said.

“Well, I certainly don’t want my bab… Glimmer to be off without being able to contact her,” King Micah said. “But, if it can’t be helped, I suppose they could head home early.”

“Dad!” Glimmer shouted.

“It’s just a possibility,” King Micah said with feigned innocence that fooled no one.

“Not happening, old man,” Catra said with a wicked grin. “We have requests from friends out here to come help at least three other planets. And we have a ton of space where we haven’t even gotten to yet. I think it will take another two or three years.”

“What?!” King Micah cried.

“That is entirely too long to be irrelevant,” Light Hope said with concern.

“Okay, okay,” Entrapta said, cutting in. “We need to establish criteria of what we are trying to accomplish. Emily, Light Hope, what would your ideal form and abilities be?”

There was a long pause. Emily began hesitantly, “Well, I like this body. I’d like to stay here, but to have full control over it myself, so I can explore, and feel, and learn new things.”

“Excellent! Light Hope?”

“I would prefer to return to a hologram. It was a highly efficient way of being. However, being within the Crystal Castle is no longer effective. I would like to assist She-Ra more than anything.”

“You have a fan. Should I be jealous?” Catra asked Adora with a shiteating grin.

“Shut up,” Adora said under her breath, giving Catra a shove.

“Okay, great!” Entrapta said again, looking up abruptly. “I think I have enough information now to begin running some simulations back in my room.” She shot up onto her hair and scampered out of the room.

“She’s great!” Bow said. “Very difficult to understand, but great!”

“Adora,” Light Hope said seriously, “are you sure you are okay with us not completing integration?”

“Oh, Light Hope, of course I am!” she exclaimed. “You have been tinkered with and changed so many times for other people. The First Ones erased Mara from you, and then Mara put in a secret code, and then I unlocked it. You didn’t have a say in any of that! I meant it when I said I wanted to be your friend. It’s time for you to let me be a good friend to you.”

Emily-Hope paused thoughtfully. “We can accept this decision,” they said with a very slight echo.

“This is so, so AWESOME!” Scorpia said, grasping her claws together.

…

A week later, Emily-Hope again stood in front of the communication console. Entrapta bustled around doing last minute edits to the code. The final code, hopefully.

“Okay, Scorpia,” Entrapta said excitedly. “You are going to hold onto Emily-Hope and then push the update button again. This time, LOTS of LIGHTNING!”

“What?!” Scorpia said, pulling her claws back. “Why?!”

“Because we need a lot more juice this time!”

“It’s okay,” Emily-Hope said. “We trust you.”

“Okey-dokey,” Scorpia said nervously.

Emily-Hope put her hands on the console and opened the connection to the living spaceship. Adora, Glimmer, and Bow smiled encouragingly. Catra wagged her fingers in a sarcastic wave. Emily-Hope nodded.

Scorpia reached out and gently grasped Emily-Hope’s arm. “Here we go!” she yelled suddenly. Her body flared with lightning and then it shot endless waves of crackling light down her arm and into her claw, just as she hit the update button.

The white and rainbow light shot out of Emily-Hope. First they flooded the room, making everyone, whose hands were free, cover their eyes. Then they pulled back into a column of light surrounding Emily-Hope and Scorpia. The column shot upward, through the ceiling, up through the whole palace, and out into the sky. There were cries from surprised people caught in and near the beam of light. Then the whole mountainside began to shake. At first, it was a slight tremor, but it grew and grew as the light continued to stretch farther and farther away.

“THIS IS AMAZING!” Entrapta shouted loudly while still covering her eyes with her ponytails.

Suddenly, the shaking stopped and the light blinked out. Scorpia was again holding Emily-Hope as she slumped over. Slowly, Scorpia helped her to stand up.

“Wow,” Scorpia breathed looking at the woman in her arms.

The woman stepped back and tested her balance. Her body had lightened to a pale green, the color of a new branch sprouting from a tree. From when Scorpia had supported her, she knew that the woman’s arms felt warm and skin-like. Instead of having First Ones’ marking etched into her skin, the markings ran smoothly over her body, but were made of a shining silver metal. Her hair hung down to brush her shoulders in large twists of dark green vines and silver wire. Small rainbow flowers bloomed at the end of each twist. She opened eyes that were the palest silver with deep ruby irises. Everyone in the room seemed to hold their breath.

Suddenly, Scorpia jumped in front her, facing away, and shouted, “Avert your eyes! She’s nude!”

“Ahhh!” King Micah said twirling around. “And she’s a baby! Definitely underage!” Quickly he called for a guard from outside. A guard raced in, and King Micah snatched the blue and white cloak off his body.

Entrapta laughed and clapped her hands enthusiastically with glee. “Yay!!!”

“Here!” King Micah yelled, throwing the cloak blindly towards Scorpia.

She grabbed it and whirled around. “Not looking! Not looking!” she said staring straight up at the ceiling and swirling the cloak in the direction of the woman.

Suddenly, the woman laughed as well, and reached out and took the cloak. “It’s okay, Scorpia,” Emily said, wrapping herself in the cloak.

Scorpia froze. “Emily?” she breathed.

“Yes, it’s me, just me,” Emily said, a smile transforming the stern features of what still looked like Light Hope’s face.

Scorpia laughed in delight, and scooped Emily up in a hug, swinging her around in circles. Entrapta, still laughing, ran over and threw her arms around both of her friends.

“Well, this is lovely, I mean, excellent result, nothing to do with appearance,” King Micah said awkwardly, interrupting. “However, do we know where Light Hope is? Or my baby girl?”

Emily closed her eyes for a moment and the hologram flickered to life over the console without her touching it.

All four friends stared at them in shock. “What exactly just happened?” Adora asked finally. “You disappeared! And then this white light shot at us from the depths of space and the whole ship lit up!”

“Greetings, Adora,” Light Hope’s voice sounded through the speakers of the communication device. “I have now integrated with the ship and will be able to assist you on your travels.”

“Oh great,” Catra muttered, not quietly enough.

“I can still feel you in my head,” Emily said, touching her forehead gently. “I can’t hear your thoughts, but I know we are connected. I can always find you. Light Hope, how does it feel?”

“I will enjoy this much better,” Light Hope said cooly, but with a hint of relief. “My sensors can monitor activity, but I do not have to feel physical input.”

“Monitor activity!” Catra said sitting up sharply, “but not like in our rooms, right?”

“I can monitor activity throughout every part of the ship and be ready to assist Adora at any time.”

King Micah laughed and rubbed his hands together gleefully. “Excellent! Excellent development!”

The four friends exchanged concerned looks.

“We did it!” Entrapta exclaimed. “We made everyone happy!”

“Yay!” Scorpia shouted. “Emily, what do you want to do first?”

Emily leaned forward and stared straight into Scorpia’s eyes. Scorpia flushed slightly. “I want… to… eat EVERYTHING!” Emily said. “But first, I should probably put some clothes on.”

“Oh, oh, right!” Scorpia stumbled, blushing a deep red to match her claws and exoskeleton.

…

Later that night, the friends were gathered again in Entrapta’s room. They had gone out into Bright Moon and tried endless snacks from street vendors. They watched musicians and a juggler. Emily had stopped and smelled so many different things and ran her hands over them, delighting in her body. They had even tried wine while watching the last show.

Now, it was well past nightfall and they had retired back into the palace to rest. Entrapta lay dangling half off her bed, snoring slightly. Scorpia and Emily rested together in a pile of cushions from raiding Glimmer's room. Emily occasionally would reach out lazily and try another bite of tiny dessert. However, they were mostly talking.

As the night moved slowly along, they began to get sleepy as well and their voices faded out. Emily rolled over and rested her head on Scorpia’s shoulder. They lay cuddling for long minutes. Scorpia thought that Emily had fallen asleep when Emily moved, scooting away, and turning over, so she faced Scorpia.

“Thank you,” she said simply, smiling sleepily.

Scorpia rolled to face her as well. “For what?” she asked quietly to not wake up Entrapta.

“You always saw me,” Emily said, waking up a little more. “Entrapta is a great friend, but she was so excited she forgot about me a lot.”

Scorpia went to protest, but Emily shushed her.

“It’s not really about her,” she continued. “You always saw me, always helped me, always fought for me. Thank you.”

“Oh, it wasn’t all that,” Scorpia said, getting embarrassed.

“It is all that,” Emily insisted. Scorpia blushed, and they lay silently for a minute. “Do you remember our conversation on the beach with Light Hope?” Emily asked. “When she explained what attractiveness is?”

Scorpia looked away hastily. “Ah, well, I do seem to recall something about that, yes.”

“My body has changed twice since then,” Emily asked seriously. “Does it still fit the criteria for bipedal attractiveness.”

“Um, yes, I’d have to say, yup, definitely,” Scorpia said, glancing quickly at Emily and then looking away.

Emily smiled. “Thank you,” she said simply. “I think that your body meets that criteria as well.”

Scorpia noticeably startled. “Oh, well, thank you,” she stuttered.

“I have an idea of something to try,” Emily continued. “Can I try one more new thing today?”

Scorpia nodded. “Of course!” she started to push herself up onto an elbow. “What can I get for you?”

Emily reached up and placed her hand on Scorpia’s cheek. “Nothing,” she said. Then she leaned forward and pressed her lips to Scorpia’s. After a short pause, she pulled back.

Now it was her turn to look nervous. “Did I do that right?” she asked worriedly. “I’ve never done that before. Obviously, that was the whole point. But I’ve seen it a bunch of times. Netossa and Spinnerella, Bow and Glimmer, Adora and Catra, Mermista and Sea Hawk, you and Perfuma,” she trailed off suddenly looking horrified.

“No, no,” Scorpia said, still looking shocked. “You did it right. Um, Emily, you know that kissing isn't something that friends normally do, right? I mean, I know that you are new to this body, and I’m definitely happy to help, but not traditionally a friendly activity.”

Emily frowned and leaned in close. “I know that,” she said intently. “I wanted to kiss you, just you.”

“Oh. Oh!” Scorpia said. Suddenly, she smiled and touched Emily gently with a claw. “Well, in that case,” she leaned forward and kissed Emily back. This time Scorpia wasn’t too surprised to participate and Emily was happy to follow her lead. One kiss slid into another, as they moved closer and wrapped each other in their arms. Scorpia gently touched her tongue to Emily’s lips, and she opened them quickly. They slid easily into deep kisses for several minutes. Finally, they pulled slightly back and rested their foreheads together. “I am so, so glad you are here,” Scorpia said with feeling.

Emily beamed back at her. “Me too.”

“I only want to kiss you too,” Scorpia said softly. Her gaze was warm and soft on Emily’s face.

Emily pulled Scorpia into a tight hug, tangling their legs together. “Well, that’s settled then,” she said happily.

“I am so happy for you,” Entrapta said suddenly. Both women on the floor jumped. “But do you think you could do it in someone else's room?” After a moment, they all laughed.


End file.
